Calderón submits legislation to create unified police forces

Acting on a long proposed initiative, President Calderón sent to Congress the constitutional legislation to create 32 unified state-level police forces that would do away with most of the 2,000 municipal police forces and establish uniform standards for recruitment, training, and control. “It is necessary to make a sharp change in course in the model for police organizations that will permit the Mexican State to guarantee public safety across the entire country,” he said. Municipalities would be able to keep their own police forces in some cases, if they demonstrated that their forces met the minimum standards. “On the day that, in addition to having a reliable, well-trained, and professional Federal Police to confront criminality, we also have in each of the 32 states reliable, well-trained, well-paid, well-armed police forces, that day we will be able to decisively close the space for criminality,” he concluded. The 2011 budget proposal already includes Ps. 2.4 billion for funding the initiative. PRD Senator Carlos Navarrete cautioned that the legislation would be subject to “exhaustive analysis” and “modification if needed” in the Senate. Meanwhile, Aguascalientes became the first state to create on its own unified police force. The mayors of the 11 municipalities in the state signed the agreements to cede control of their police forces to the state’s Secretary for Public Safety. (Universal 10/7, 10/11, Reforma 10/11)